(06-29-2024, 03:30 PM)Jag149 Wrote:

(06-29-2024, 01:09 PM)Caldrac Wrote: That along with ball security on the ground combined with butter finger's in the passing game. Hopefully the game slows down for him a bit this year. He's a high draft pick. They need to get a lot out of him in year two. Same for Strange.

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Originally, I felt the same way, then I noticed a few things. In his first actual year on the field, Etienne the 2021 first-round pick fumbled five times, second most in the NFL among running backs. Now I am not really trying to defend Tank, just looking at it as impartial as I can. So Tank fumbled twice in his first year. I must say they were both interesting.

The first was during the third quarter of the Jaguars’ Week 1 game against the Indianapolis Colts, the pressure got to Trevor Lawrence and the ball was knocked out before that hand went forward. This errant pass went to Tank who picked up the ball. Then he assumed it was an incomplete. Buckner slaps the ball away and TD time. Now was it his fault? Surely it was. However we need to add an assist to the O-line on the pressure, TL for the first fumble/errant pass, and the REST of the team who standing around him also relaxed and let this happen.

The second was on a rainy day in Pittsburgh when he was hit behind the line and held up while another player whacked at the ball quite a few times. (forward progress possibly could have been called) I am sure one of the offensive linemen would have helped him get down but it is hard to do after being run over and on your back.

While the he two passes off his fingers for interceptions need to be corrected. What really kept him off the field in my opinion was picking up the blitz. Not unusual for first year players to struggle with this, but this year that needs to be behind him.

Ps   Balou is only as insightful as the last guy he talked to

Yeah. I remember Etienne having some issues there his first year running with ball security. Got better in year two as a starter. Hopefully Bigsby has the same progression. Good point on the blitz pick-up's though. Especially with this offensive line's struggles last year. I think he'll be better in year two. I hope he has a monster game at least in the preseason to give us some hope. 

I think that's where my issues with him started as a rookie. Going back to the Miami preseason game where the offense was moving up and down the field it was Bigsby I believe that fumbled it going for the endzone. Really set the tone from there. You're right about the other issues. He just seemed to be a magnet for bad things to happen and he only touched the football 50 times on the ground and had maybe 5 or 6 pass attempts in his direction. 

I was already critical of him because of the draft investment made on him, which, again, to be fair, that's not on him. That's on Baalke. I was concerned with his amount of fumbles at Auburn in comparison to his career carries. He'll just have to figure it out in year two. It's amazing what Etienne was able to accomplish in spite of the amount of negative yardage this offensive line put the entire offense in with poor blocking up front. 

We'll see soon enough though with this base five they roll out in August. Can't believe it. We're just four weeks away finally from preseason action.

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